There’s a moment when I’m live sketching where everything just clicks.

Ideas thrown out faster and faster. Voices are rising with excitement. A dawning realization in the room that things are coming together, crystallizing, getting clearer and more colorful.

And it’s just so awesome.

I’d love to take all the credit in the world for this. After all, there I am with the expensive markers, huge sheets of paper, and industrial-grade knee pads. Doing the physical work.

But that’s not really what’s happening.

Honestly, those breakthrough sessions are happening a little bit because of the pens on paper, but mostly because of the people in the room.

People who are collaborators…those who create the conditions for a certain kind of clarity to appear from the creative “mess”.

Collaborators as Clients

Working with teams like Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL) or the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), doesn’t mean being handed a a list corporate-y requirements.

Instead, it’s being brought into their thinking.

Being part of a process. Staying open to ideas they haven’t considered. They let the work unfold rather than trying to control every detail.

Megan puts it this way: “When working with us as a creative services business, it is best not to come to us with exactly what you want. Bring us your challenge, and be open to all the ways we can work together to meet your goal.”

Collaborators understand this instinctively.

Effortless, Lucrative, Fun

These three words have become our filter for the kind of work we want to do.

Not that the work itself is easy.

These are complex governmental, scientific, technological, DEI, or educational challenges. Great people trying to do meaningful work in systems that weren’t always made to cooperate.

But the relationship feels effortless when there’s genuine collaboration. When there’s creativity as strategy, not just decoration.

My friend Tyler calls it “mindshare.”

True collaborators think about the work even between sessions. They hear something on a podcast and send it your way. They connect dots you couldn’t see because you’re not in their world every day.

That’s when the work becomes lucrative. And I don’t even mean that strictly in a financial sense. But in the value or richness of what’s being co-created.

And fun?

That happens when working with people who don’t need every detail controlled. Who trust that the messiness of creative process leads somewhere good.

Who Collaborators Are

The people we work best with are those trying to make something better within imperfect systems.

They’re navigating complexity every day. Multiple stakeholders. Competing priorities. Challenges without obvious solutions.

And that needs just a little brightening from someone who can see patterns they’re standing too close to, to even notice.

They understand that visual thinking isn’t a nice-to-have. It’s a way to actually solve big and small problems all while moving the important work forward.

And the very best part? They’re willing to co-create rather than dictate.

Your Turn

Here’s what I’m curious about: Who are YOUR collaborators?

Not clients. Not customers. The people who work WITH you, not just hire you.

The ones who energize rather than drain you. Who trust your expertise enough to let you actually use it. Who create the conditions where your best work emerges.

Once we know who that is, everything gets clearer. Recognize them faster. Create more space. Maybe even gently redirect the ones who want a transaction instead of a partnership.

The work you love doing is usually connected to the people you love doing it with.

Some of you reading this? We’ve already met. You’re collaborators, not clients, and we’re grateful for you.

Some might be thinking, “Wade, this sounds like what I need! Bring the pens, paper and kneepads!”

If that’s you, let’s definitely talk.

Realizing who YOUR true collaborators are? Go find them.

Grateful you are here,

Wade